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NDP statements may impact farmland-for-industry decision, Abbotsford mayor says

City has asked for removal of farmland from Agricultural Land Reserve to spur industrial growth
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The City of Abbotsford is asking the ALC to exclude two blocks of land from the ALR, including land south of Marshall Road near the airport. Vikki Hopes/Abbotsford News

Mayor Henry Braun says he isn’t confident in the outcome of the city’s request to have farmland removed from the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) and made available for industrial development.

After a contentious public hearing, council decided last summer to request the removal of about 500 acres of farmland in Bradner and north of Abbotsford International Airport. The request is meant to address the city’s rapidly diminishing supply of industrial land.

But given statements by the current provincial government and minister of agriculture, Braun is doubtful the ALR panel set to rule on the decision will grant the request.

“I’m not terribly optimistic given some of the comments that have been made in public,” Braun said. He noted the panel previously turned down a private developer’s application to exclude the Bradner properties, although that decision suggested they may be more accommodating to an application from the municipality.

Braun expects a decision in the coming months. But while the Agricultural Land Commission panel is supposed to act independently of the provincial government, he suggested that the government’s comments regarding agriculture land could sway the decision.

“The panel members read the newspaper and listen to the six o’clock news too,” he said.

Last August, just two weeks after council had approved the plan to apply to the ALC, Minister of Agriculture Lana Popham told The News that “Removing food-growing lands for industrial purposes does not fit within that mandate.”

While ALC panels act independently, governments also have the ability to overrule decisions.

The NDP government has since convened a nine-member committee to “lead the revitalization” of the ALR and ALC. The panel will look at a range of topics, including monster homes, the breaking of the ALR into two farms under the previous government, fish farms and ALR “resilience.”


@ty_olsen
tolsen@abbynews.com

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